After last nights result and the obvious disapointment. Whose season would you rather have? Our season or Leeds? Us were we were quite entertaining but got to two semi finals OR Leeds where they have got to two finals but didn't seem to bother with the regular season.

If Leeds win next week then theirs. If they lose then neither. I want to win trophies.

This thread is embarrassing, the worse thing we can do as a club now is give it the whole "we finished top so we are champions" rubbish. No we aren't, Leeds/Saints/Wire will be champions, we are just a club that went full tilt all season and got no real reward.

What? That was never said, he was clearly asking a question (A good one IMO)

I would rather have Leeds but tbh I would feel pretty hollow getting to a final from 5th I think it's shocking especially the way that we were done about 4 times for the thing that was done to Goulding in the dieing moments and we didn't get a penalty for 2 points right near the Leeds posts. I don't often blame the ref but you can guarantee if that had been at the other end it'd have been given.

It's not embarassing, what I was thinking was a few weeks ag reading a post from someone (I think they were baiting Leeds fans tbh) saying why should they pay for season tickets when they barely show up for the league matches. Now Wigans season is over is that still true.

Tbh I couldn't get a season ticket this year because of work commitments but even if I had I don't think I'd of bothered. The league is a shambles. If we had played like Leeds all year we would've still made it to a semi final we would just have been playing away instead. We finished first won more games than anyone else had the best points difference and what do we have to show for it? A nice platter to serve the pies on at the Xmas dinner.

Hark back to the Noble years where we were an inferior team to what Leeds are now, scraping into the playoffs having lost as many games in the league as won.
Then putting on some great form only to beaten in the Semi finals. Of course to have won would have been great, but im sure that 2010 would have topped it.

Leeds are a great cup side and regardless of how they fare in the final, their fans need to ask questions of the club as to why they aren't more consistent during the course of the season...it's not like they don't have the players!

I think your question almost answers itself and ironically the same reason they are inconsistent all season is the reason they come good at the end - age and experience.

So many of the leeds players (particularly the match winners) are at the back end of their careers - they're not as fit or as fast as they once were, and struggle with the slog of the season - yet when it comes to winning when winning counts they have the psychological edge over many less experienced and younger sides- and pick up their game with monster performances like last night. Its impossible for Leeds with their ageing side to lift like that every week, which is why, in the regular season, many sides run rings round them. But on their day, those old lads still have the skill to do a job, and thats what happens unfortunately!

the chapions are the ones that win the grand final not the hub cap

My apoligies, didn't read the post properly.

If Shaun Wane is reading this, I want to make it clear now. I would rather win the league than finish mid table and win the playoffs.

For heaven's sake don't do what other clubs do and think its ok to slack in the season as long as you peak for the playoffs. That would ruin the game. No wonder non RL fans don't watch it.

the thing is, we werent that entertaining for the majority of the season. we had a good run from april to the middle of june and since weve been decidedly underwhelming. oh well.

So as an outsider, if you had the choice, would you rather start 2013 with this years team or the one you have ready for next year?

I haven't voted for one of the options as I don't think they are the only ways a club can manage the season. Warrington have had a season very similar to ours, very consistent and entertaining during the league rounds but they have won the CC and may yet win the GF too. I would rather have had a season like theirs where we were consistently good and backed it up in the games that mattered most (much like our seasons in 2010 and 2011).

We have had seasons where we were poor in the league but good in knockout games (barring SFs unfortunately) under Noble and they were dire, getting to a final wouldn't have made them or the rugby we played during them any better IMO. I would just have been annoyed that we didn't bother to try until the end of the year just as I was without winning the SFs in those seasons.

The defeat at Widnes early in the campaign (and probably the subsequent criticism from some fans) seems to have gone a long way to dictating the course of our season. Up to that point SW was stating that he would rest players in readiness for tough games later on (IIRC he had stated that not resting them and going all out in all games was a mistake Madge had made) to prevent burning out as happened in 2011.

After the Widnes game although he said he would rest key players again he very rarely did and slipped into the approach of going all out for the LLS. Again the squad got burned out and we dropped off in the last portion of the season and did not have enough left when it actually mattered. Tony Smith at Warrington learned from the same situation and after falling away and getting nothing but the LLS in 2011 he adapted his approach, and still got a high league position and at least one trophy this year. Hopefully SW will also learn from this year and not repeat the same errors next year.